Article

Functional tests, such as the timed-up-and-go (TUG), are routinely used to screen
for mobility issues and fall risk. While the TUG is easy to administer and
evaluate, its single time-to-completion outcome may not discriminate between
different mobility challenges. Wearable sensors provide an opportunity to collect
a variety of additional variables during clinical tests. The purpose of this
study was to assess a new wearable inertial sensor system (iTUG) by investigating
the effects of cognitive tasks in a dual-task paradigm on spatiotemporal and
kinematic variables during the TUG. No previous studies have looked at both
spatiotemporal variables and kinematics during dual-task TUG tests. 20 healthy
young participants (10 males) performed a total 15 TUG trials with two different
cognitive tasks and a normal control condition. Total time, along with
spatiotemporal gait parameters and kinematics for all TUG subtasks (sit-to-stand,
walking, turn, turn-to-sit), were measured using the inertial sensors.
Time-to-completion from iTUG was highly correlated with concurrent manual timing.
Spatiotemporal variables during walking showed expected differences between
control and cognitive dual-tasks while trunk kinematics appeared to show more
sensitivity to dual-tasks than reported previously in straight line walking.
Non-walking TUG subtasks showed only minor changes during dual-task conditions
indicating a possible attentional shift away from the cognitive task. Stride
length and some variability measures were significantly different between the two
cognitive tasks suggesting an ability to discriminate between tasks. Overall, the
use of the iTUG system allows the collection of both traditional and potentially
more discriminatory variables with a protocol that is easily used in a clinical
setting.
CI - Copyright (c) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Langue : ANGLAIS